Marine-themed public schools meet resistance

[unhappycamper]

Lance Cpl. Carton Markwood, designated marksman for 2nd Platoon, Company I, Battalion Landing Team, 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment shows Charles Charest, a Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps cadet, the right way to shoot during a visit by Marines from the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit to Hermitage High School in Richmond, Va., in April 2007. The Corps is leading the charge to boost its presence in high schools around the country, part of a wider Defense Department effort.


Marine-themed public schools meet resistance
The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Jul 11, 2009 9:02:29 EDT

The Corps is wooing public school districts across the country, expanding a network of military academies that has grown steadily despite criticism that it’s a recruiting ploy.

Marine officials are talking with at least six districts — including in suburban Atlanta, New Orleans and Las Vegas — about opening schools where every student wears a uniform, participates in Junior ROTC and takes military classes, said Bill McHenry, who runs the service’s Junior ROTC program.

Those schools would add to more than a dozen public military academies that have opened nationwide, a trend that’s picking up speed as the Defense Department looks for ways to increase the number of units in Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps.

“Many kids in our country don’t get a fair shake. Many kids live in war zones. Many kids who are bright and have so much potential and so much to offer, all they need to be given is a chance,” McHenry said. “If you look at stats, what we’re doing now isn’t working.”

Last year, Congress passed a defense policy bill that included a call for increasing the number of Junior ROTC units across the country from 3,400 to 3,700 in the next 11 years, an effort that will cost about $170 million, Defense Department spokeswoman Eileen M. Lainez said. The process will go faster by opening military academies, which count as four or more units, McHenry said.


Rest of article at: http://marinecorpstimes.com/news/2009/07/marine_jrotc_071109w/



uhc comment: And this is happening under a democratic White House, a democratic Senate and a democratic House. (And yes, the small 'd' was intentional.)